Psi Corps
The Psi Corps was an Earth Alliance organization ostensibly established to help human telepaths learn to control their abilities for the betterment of themselves and Humanity at large. Culture of The Corps Psi Corps culture naturally grew out what had already been established by the MRA, some of which came straight from The Kith. The phrase perhaps most synonymous with the Corps "The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father" came from MRA agent Desa Alexander, who along with her fellow Kith, made a definite impression on Corps culture. She was frequent to remind her charges while training and tracking down blips that "The kith is mother. The kith is father." Another tradition that began with Alexander and one followed by many was the passing of family names within the Corps along the female line, rather than the male. Referred to as "Mitochondrial descent", the reason behind it was because the marker for the telepath gene is encoded within a teep's mitochondrial DNA. As such Lyta Alexander could trace her linage back six generations to Desa herself, while Talia Winters inherited her name from former blip and resistance member Jenny Winters. The practice was not totally pervasive, however, and by the 2250s it had become something only really associated with the old Corps families. Children who are raised by the Corps were quickly and thoroughly indoctrinated. Raised mostly in Teeptown, they were kept in small groups or cadres where they were instilled with a sense of belonging and loyalty to a larger body, discouraging individual thinking and other solitary activities. Latents, children who had tested positive as teeps but had yet to manifest their psi abilities were kept in a separate dorm (sometimes called "the basement"), often shunned and rarely mixing with the others. However, once their talents manifested, they would quickly be integrated into a proper cadre. Young teeps were taught that they were rare, special, and better than mundanes, and that two teeps should never be seen fighting in front of a normal. It is the position of the Psi Corps that telepathic humans who do not learn how to control their abilities are mostly unstable or become insane, therefore they need guidance. In addition to that, unregistered telepaths can do severe damage to society by using their abilities for criminal reasons. Under Earth Alliance law, all human telepaths have to be registered by Psi Corps. After that, they have three choices: join the Psi Corps, lifetime imprisonment, or taking drugs called drugs to suppress their abilities. Most choose to work for Psi Corps, because one common side effect of the drugs is severe depression that often ends in suicide.Eyes Unstable telepaths - such as schizophrenic ones - are locked away for "the good of everyone".The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father Always an insular organization, Psi Corps would always try to deal with incidents (or "family matters") concerning telepaths internally and tried to avoid interference by mundanes, believing that as long as the normals were kept believing that "nothing goes wrong behind these walls", they would be left alone. The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father Propaganda To strengthen the dedication of telepaths to the Corps, there are a variety of slogans that shall remind the Telepaths, that Psi Corps is their family: - :*''"The Corps is mother, the Corps is father."'' :*''"The Psi Corps is your friend. Trust the Corps."'' :*''"We Are Everywhere For Your Convenience."'' :*''"Protect the Family."'' :*''"Obey."'' :*''"Trust the Corps."'' :*''"Maternis, Paternis"'' :*''"United in thought, divided in memory."'' Resources Psi Corps facilities were spread across the Earth Alliance, from the Corps' headquarters in Earthdome to a secret intelligence center in Syria Planum on Mars. The facilities at Earthdome featured hospitals, offices, and an academy where young teeps and teeks were trained to make the best of their talents. Located nearby in Geneva was Teeptown, an enclosed community the size of a large village. Built out from the old MRA MetaSensory compound, this was where new members (mostly children) were indoctrinated into the culture and thinking of Psi Corps. Unknown to many at the time, Psi Corps secretly maintained a series of motherships that remained in hyperspace. Ferrying Psi Cops back and forth on missions, the motherships only exited to normal space when maintenance and repairs were essential and could be done unobserved. Psi Cops Psi Cops is the collective name for officers of the Metasensory Police, or MetaPol and were the police enforcement arm of Psi Corps, usually dealing with cases relating to telepaths, mostly rogues and blips. All Psi Cops are P-12sMind War, the highest rating within the Psi Scale, but not every P-12 has the ability to become a Psi Cop, because it takes a certain amount of ruthlessness. Psi Cops receive a special training in blocking and scanning so that they are able to resist a deep-scan for at least an hour. The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father Following the dissolution of the Psi Corps at the end of the Telepath War, the role of the Psi Cops was divided between the new Bureau of Telepath Integration and the new Metasensory Division of the Earth Alliance Bureau of Investigation. Bloodhound Units Bloodhound units are specially trained telepaths under the authority of the Psi Cops, used to hunt down fugitives through empathic tracking and scanning of witnesses, informants and suspects. The origins of the Bloodhound Units go back to the days of the Metasensory Regulation Authority and a group of agents lead by Desa Alexander (also known as "Blood".)Dark Genesis - The Birth of the Psi Corps Up until President Morgan Clark's increased dependence on the Psi Corps for civil intelligence gathering and black ops, the Bloodhounds were kept within the Corps, tracking blips and occasionally protecting their own. One such incident occurred around 2245, when a serial killer murdered a string of commercial telepaths. With the "mundane" authorities seemingly uninterested in catching the perpetrator, the Psi Corps took matters into it's own hands without such encumbrances as warrants, permission or due process. Illegally scanning anyone who might have a lead, the Bloodhounds left behind no traces save for lingering memory gaps, missing hours and headaches, eventually finding the killer. Reasoning that turning him over to the proper authorities would require an explanation as to how they found him, the Corps had him sent to an institution on Beta Colony instead, but not before they implanted visions and hallucinations in his mind so terrifying that he would spend the rest of his days and nights screaming at things that only he could see. To prevent him from clawing his own eyes out, he was kept in a straitjacket 24 hours a day.The Face of the Enemy During the Earth Alliance Civil War, Bloodhound units were assigned to the Earthforce military divisions and bases occupying Mars. Anyone suspected of being a member of the resistance was subjected to a very deep scan. Given the nature of such invasive scans, they were prone to causing heart attacks, seizures, strokes, and even death. In 2262 the Bloodhound units were dispatched to hunt down Byron's dissident telepaths.A Tragedy of TelepathsPhoenix Rising Directors of Psi Corps A lifelong position, the position of Psi Corps Director was initially filled by normals who were appointed by the Earth Senate as stipulated in the Psi Corps' original charter. Eventually the position was given over to telepaths. :People who have held the position *Lee Crawford (April 12th - May 19th 2161) *Kevin Vacit (2161 - 2195) *Johnston (2195 - 2256) Assistant Directors At any one time, the Psi Corps has had four Assistant Directors, with at least one permanently stationed on Mars. :People who have held the position *Menendez (Earth, Circa 2253) *Kaufman (Mars, Circa 2253) *Drake (Earth, Circa 2262) Terminology *'Basement': Informal name given to the dormitory for latent children. They are kept separate until their abilities manifest, at which point they are integrated into an appropriate Cadre. *'Black Omega': Elite Starfury unit attached to Psi Corps.Ship of Tears *'Blip': a general term used by security officers for fugitives from the law, though it has also become synonymous with rogue telepaths.SurvivorsShip of Tears "Type A" Blips are considered to be merely misguided and open to re-education. "Type C" Blips are those who are considered sociopaths or "born criminals", who enjoy abusing their abilities and are much more difficult to re-educate. *'Bloop': Referring to the involuntary broadcasting of stray thoughts, either through weak blocks, poor discipline and/or loss of control through panic and emotional distress. Very young or untrained teeps, as well as teeks of any age are particularly notorious for blooping. *'Block': Telepathic guard against active scanning or passive sensing. Blocks usually take the form of repeating songs, nursery rhymes, or mathematical calculations.A Race Through Dark PlacesThe Paragon of Animals With appropriate training, mundanes can also use these techniques to block an active scan.Objects in Motion Blocks can be broken by a sufficiently strong and/or well trained teep, however doing so forcefully can lead to the subject suffering strokes, aneurysms or cerebral hemorrhaging. It can also refer to a implanted subconscious conditioning that restrains a subject at the point of action.Phoenix Rising *'Boot': Psi Corps security officers. Not full Psi Cops, they usually operated in support roles such as Bloodhound units. *'Bloodhound': Psi Corps tracking units, usually operating under the direction of a full Psi Cop. *'Busybody': Slang term for a commercial telepath. *'Cadre': Training groups composed of young telepaths, organized into boarding houses according to age group. *'Cadre Prime': A cadre of telepaths that manifested their abilities either at birth or before the onset of puberty. Accounting for less that 5% of all telepaths, as such they are considered exceptionally rare and special. Other Cadres include Cadre Secundus and Cadre Tertius. *'Casting': (See "Mindcast") *'Cops 'n' Blips': An approved game played by children in the Psi Corps during "constructive playtime". Generally it involves one or two children (the "blips") evading and getting to a pre-arranged location, while the others (the "cops") attempt to track and capture them. *'Deathbed Scan': Performed when a telepath combs a dying person's mind for vital information up until the very moment of death. Such scans are known to be harmful to the telepath's mental health, with some believing that one loses a piece of one's soul by being in contact with the soon-to-be deceased person as they crossed the threshold. Almost no telepath having once done such a scan would willingly do so a second time, since subsequent attempts are thought to be very damaging to the psyche.The Paragon of Animals Psi Cop Alfred Bester repeatedly volunteered for such duty, once even following the subject's mind into the void. During this scan, Bester very nearly died himself, and would have if it hadn't been for the resuscitation efforts of the hospital staff attending to the dying subject. Some in the Corps say that Bester is the way he is because the better part of his soul is missing. *'Fugue': Telepathic attack. A favorite trick of blips, a fugue forces the target's mind to suddenly repeat it's last thought over and over, effectively freezing the person's mind in the moment. The effect is short lived, but if timed right it can be enough to give the attacker an edge. For a telepath, a fugue state is akin to a psi seizure or stroke and can sometimes be brought on by extremely severe emotional distress or shock. *'Grabber, The': A children's nickname for William Karges and the statue that bore his likeness in Teeptown's alpha quad. The statue was mostly destroyed during the Telepath War and was finally removed and replaced by a statue of Matthew, Fiona and their lost baby Stephen in 2281.Final Reckoning - The Fate of Bester *'Grins': Term used by Psi Corps children for the faceless monitors within Psi Corps Cadre Prime youth training programs. Noted for their grey robes, flat, almost mechanical voices, impersonal nature and their blank featureless masks that display only very basic emotional symbols, they deal out both punishments and rewards, though are more often than not a source of apprehension and mystery for most teep children. At age 12, the children are shown the true identities of the Grins are in fact their teachers and caregivers during the rite of passage ceremony in which they receive their first pair of gloves. *'Glyph': Projection of a telepathic image. Can be used as a means of deception (making a subject think they saw something they didn't) or to accentuate communication through illustration. *'John Trakker, Psi Cop': Fictional character that features in a weekly vid series produced by the Psi Corps. A Psi Cop that works with his partner Heng, every week they work to capture "evil" and "stupid" rogue telepaths and send them off to be re-educated by the Corps. Also featured on a merchandising line based on the show. *'Latent': Referring to a telepath who has scored positive on the screening test, but whose ability hasn't manifested yet. Also called "late bloomers".A Race Through Dark Places *'Later': Referring to telepath who's ability manifested after or during puberty. *'Mindblast': A sudden and powerful brute-force telepathic attack that have been known to leave a subject fugueing and commonly suffering partial amnesia. *'Mindburst': A sudden and debilitating burst of background "noise" from other minds, most commonly suffered by laters as their psi ability first manifests. The mindburst's intensity is directly proportional to the teep's psi rating. For example, to a P10 the experience is akin to a deaf person suddenly hearing a rocket engine right by their heads. The sudden shock can be severe enough as to render a teep unconscious.Legacies *'Mindcast': Direct telepathic communication.Deadly Relations - Bester Ascendant *'Mind shredder': Term applied to an individual trained in attack probes, who has an exceptional knack for disrupting the abilities of other telepaths. *'Mindquake': A localized kinetic agitation resulting from an unstable teek who is unable to control their ability. *'Monitors': (See "Grins") *'Mundane': non-telepath, meaning literally "normal". Often pejorative. *'P'see': Term used for a telepathic perception that manifests and is interpreted by a teep's brain as visual information, a sort of telepathic sight. Similar terms include "p'squint" and "p'hear". *'Psi Cop': Psi Corps police officers. *'Rogue': (See "Blip") *'Scan': An active telepathic probe. Surface scans, while difficult for even a trained P5 to detect, can only reveal what a person happens to be thinking from moment to moment and is routinely used in business negotiations to detect falsehoods, omission and obfuscation. A deep scan, while often uncomfortable, can uncover deeper thoughts and memories. Under certain conditions deep and extended scans can cause seizures, heart attacks, strokes, permanent brain damage, or if the subject is particularly resistant, death. Sustaining and blocking extended scans can also affect the telepath running the scan - the best human telepaths can only sustain a deep scan for up to 40-45 minutes, at which time they burst arteries, have strokes, or black out.Mind WarA Spider in the WebThe Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father *'Teep': Referring to any telepath.Divided Loyalties *'Teeptown': Closed community for telepaths in Geneva, originally built up by the MRA and later Psi Corps from the old "metasensory compound". *'Teek': Referring to any telekinetic. Noted for their tendency to "bloop". History Early History The beginnings of The Corps date back to 2117 and the formation of the Metasensory Regulation Authority (itself an outgrowth of the 2115 Senate Committee on Technology and Privacy and the subsequent Committee on Metasensory Regulation.) In 2156, following first contact with the Centauri Republic and the revelation that the Centauri and many other alien races possessed telepaths, it became apparent that Earth would need a more permanent and comprehensive solution than the MRA was able to provide. What finally tipped the balance of public opinion was the self sacrifice of Earthforce Security Commander William Karges in thwarting of an assassination attempt on EA President Elizabeth Robinson in October of 2160. Karges had been an unregistered telepath and had used his ability to sense the thoughts of the bombers before they could detonate the President's motorcade. With this swing in public opinion concerning telepaths (which had until this point had been at its lowest since the pogroms of 2115), on April 12th 2161, President Robinson was finally able to realise what Senator Lee Crawford had been working toward for decades and institute universal registration for Earth Alliance telepaths and an independently chartered MRA, dubbed "Psi Corps." Though the Karges incident is often credited by Psi Corps propaganda as the deciding factor, more cynical students of history have compared it to George Washington chopping down a cherry tree.The Psi Corps and You! Robinson immediately offered Crawford the position of Director of the Psi Corps, though his tenure was short-lived, as on May 19th, 2161, Crawford was assassinated while on his way to a meeting with Earth's first Centauri ambassador. Kevin Vacit, Crawfords assistant of nearly 30 years became the new Director. While it's public image was always that of a "friendly" service to society (though the façade was at times rather thin), under Vacit's direction, Psi Corps was fashioned into a keenly balanced machine, dedicated to honing and cultivating telepaths for the inevitable day when co-existence with mundanes would become a matter of survival. So adept was he at setting the Corps on its course that it could continue without him and without even knowing its true purpose. Underground Railroad Doctor Stephen Franklin participated in an underground railroad to help rogue telepaths escape from the Corps. Eventually, the telepaths who escaped provided assistance during the closing days of the Second Shadow war, while the highest levels of the Corps allied itself with the Shadows, providing them with telepaths to alter. The Shadows, via Morden, took an active role in the assassination of Luis Santiago and allowed some of their technology to be used by Earthforce. After the Shadow war and the Earth Alliance Civil War were over, and both the Shadows and the Clark dictatorship were defeated, ISA President John Sheridan of the Interstellar Alliance allowed rogue telepaths to form a small colony on Babylon 5. The situation ended in violence when the Psi Cops attempted to take the rogue telepaths back to Earth. Telepath War After the colony on Babylon 5 was forced to leave following the death of its leader, Byron, Lyta Alexander began a crusade against the Psi Corps. Her actions led to a war in which rogue telepaths and non telepaths fought the Psi Corps. Having lost the power it held during the Clark administration, the Psi Corps attempted to take over Earth, only to be defeated by the Earth Alliance forces with the aid of the Interstellar Alliance and the rogue telepaths. Once the Telepath War was over, the Psionic Monitoring Commission dedicated itself to hunting down those members of the Corps who committed war crimes, such as Alfred Bester. He was eventually captured and sentenced to spending the rest of his life in prison with his abilities taken away by sleepers. Aftermath Many private schools were founded to educate telepaths; they met with mixed success. Telepaths were allowed a much wider range of options as far as their lives were concerned. This included joining the Earth Alliance military and working for private organizations. References Category:Earth Alliance